A few words of advice to the self-starters out there | Dec 15th 2008
I think if it had been left entirely up to me, I would still be working at the agency that laid me off back in 2002. There never seemed to be a good time to branch out on my own and I really had no reason to leave. I had a safe job with a predictable paycheck and a 401k with a pretty good company match program.
But the rug was pulled out from under me and I got laid off. It shattered my confidence in the “system†in an instant. I was very reluctant to jump back into a full-time job and put myself at the mercy of any one company’s bottom line.
I ultimately decided to pursue self-employment because I felt it offered more security than any one job could provide. My goal was to secure multiple clients so that if one of them dropped me, I’d still have an income stream until I could replace them. I ultimately achieved this goal, but at considerable expense in the form of taxes, health insurance and more than a few costly mistakes.
So, to all the would-be self-employed people out there – particularly those of you who may be recently laid off – here are a few tips.
Believe in yourself. I know this sounds like trite dime-store self-help advice. Bear with me. It’s natural to doubt your ability to succeed without the benefit of a corporate safety net, but if you have a good business idea, or a lot of experience or the drive and curiosity to approach work in an entirely new way, then don’t let self-doubt stand in your way.
Take baby steps. The chasm between your identity as a full-time employee and a business owner is a large one. Don’t look into it. Rather, think about what steps you must take to get you from one side to the other , then approach each step individually. For example, a friend of mine said her first task was creating a Web site and she focused on that before actively looking for work. For you it may be redoing your resume, or taking a class.
Expect to make mistakes. I can pretty much guarantee that the first year you’re in business will be fraught with errors, some of them quite costly. Mistakes are normal. You’ll make many. Take them with a grain of salt and learn from them. Your business will be better for it in the long run.
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Article originally published in the Poughkeepsie Journal on 12/13/08 under the title, “Layoff can clear path to self-employment.”